Album Review

Zap Mama's last album was the first one to incorporate instrumental sounds into the group's six-voice a cappella mix; it was also the first to include male voices. On A Ma Zone, group leader Marie Daulne has expanded the exploration of American R&B and hip-hop that she began with Seven. Breakbeats, jazzy upright bass, and turntable manipulation are now a part of the mix — a mix that was already rich with European and West African influences. "Gissie" draws most deeply on Daulne's Central African Pygmy roots, with its call-and-response structure and her unearthly yodeling; "Rafiki," which opens the album, is a collaboration with Black Thought (of the Roots) that segues beautifully into "W'Happy Mama," on which Daulne shows off her own speed-rap flow (in French, of course). "'Allo 'Allo" and "Call Waiting" both hint at her ongoing obsession with the telephone, an instrument that she seems to find mildly repellent but can't seem to ignore. Everything on this album is both complex and immediately accessible, simultaneously deeply funky and sweetly gentle. Very highly recommended.

Customer Reviews

Stumbling Resistance to Difference

by
Le Nenuphar

Zap Mama is a ground-breaking group. I love their music because it is a brave thing to adapt and synergize to some of the crazy things the "all-mighty west" throws at the world in the area of music. Westerners (Americans) can be so self-contained. We want to see everything from our point of view and become bigots when the world doesn't give us our way. This is sometimes why many "Westerners" give world music bad ratings. So I am going the other direction....

An ethic treat

by
mark'em X

Zap Mama's efforts here are very praise worthy. Iko-Iko, very commercial. Rafiki, is a club heater. with the roos' influence that was the track that caught my ear. a very good effort.

I'm in Love

by
BigRon65

This music is incredible. This woman's voice is sultry, thought-provoking, and arousing. I'll take this music, her wonderful lips, and that gorgeous face to go please!

Biography

Formed: 1990

Genre: World

Years Active: '90s, '00s

Zap Mama is an all-female a cappella quintet founded by Zaire native Marie Daulne. Daulne's father was killed during the revolution of 1960 while her mother was pregnant with her, so the remainder of the family fled to the forests and found refuge with a tribe of pygmies. Daulne was raised primarily in Europe, but when she heard a recording of traditional pygmy music at age 20, she decided to return to Africa to learn about her heritage. She was trained in pygmy onomatopoeic vocal techniques before...